Detroit's Mayor Kilpatrick Hit With Felony Assault Charges

CHICAGO - One day after being jailed for violating the terms of his bond, embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was released from jail Friday after an emergency bond appeal hearing only to face new felony assault charges filed by Michigan's attorney general.

Kilpatrick's growing legal controversies have drawn a negative spotlight on the city and calls for his resignation are growing among local and state political and community leaders.

On Thursday, Detroit 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles sent Kilpatrick to jail for violating a travel ban that was part of the mayor's bond terms in connection with felony perjury and misconduct charges filed by the local district attorney against Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty. The charges stem from testimony in a whistleblower trial, the firing of three police officers, and a subsequent $8.4 million settlement of one of the lawsuits.

Kilpatrick, 38, had failed to inform the court of a recent visit to Windsor, Ontario, that was part of his effort to advance an increasingly unlikely plan to sell the city's half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to plug the city's budget deficit.

Kilpatrick's lawyers appealed the ruling and Wayne County Third Circuit Court Judge Thomas Jackson released the mayor Friday although he is required to wear an electronic tether and pay a fine.

Kilpatrick was later arraigned and pleaded not guilty to two new felony assault charges announced earlier in the day by Attorney General Mike Cox stemming from allegations that Kilpatrick shoved a Wayne County enforcement official as he attempted to serve the mayor with a subpoena last month.

At the hearing, 36th District Court Magistrate Renee McDuffee set the mayor's bond at $25,000. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison for each of the assault counts. A felony conviction would force his removal from office.

The mayor's brief incarceration is unlikely to impact the city's credit in the near-term, according to one credit analyst. The bigger impact will come as Kilpatrick faces possible prison time for the felony charges, the analyst said.

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